3 Reasons an AI Can’t Write Your Resume: It’s about unique value.

An AI revolution seems to be sweeping the business world. And, like the original computer revolution of the 1960s, the PC revolution of the 1980s, and the subsequent Web and smartphone revolutions, AI is expected to change everything.

AI is changing the world of job search and talent search. But it’s not necessarily improving things for either jobseekers or hiring teams. Jobseekers, according to recruiters, are reportedly sending out thousands of AI-generated resumes. Hiring teams are being overwhelmed. Even worse, hiring teams are receiving resumes that claim skills the candidate does not have because an AI added them to march the job announcement. So, after the interview, the jobseeker’s application could be marked something like “resume does not match the candidate.”

As a result, you have to differentiate yourself from those AI-generated applications. You need a career marketing communications strategy based on data your favorite AI does not have. The best plans in business are data-driven, so begin with the following steps to collect and organize your essential source data:

1. Gather source material,
2. Prepare worksheets, and
3. Begin drafting your documents.

Whether you are new to the workforce, or you have been paying your dues and working your way up the ladder for years, we believe this step-by-step approach will help.

Gather your source material.

Career marketing is like any other analytical business process—you have to start with raw data. The data for your resume, LinkedIn profile, and job search letters is information about your education, certifications, professional experience, and professional skills or competencies. Assemble performance evaluations from employers, school transcripts, recommendation letters, professional awards, and any other documents you feel will be relevant. Scan hardcopies into electronic form for easy reference and retention. These are critical steps because only you have this data. Chat-GPT can’t find it on the Web.

Create worksheets.

An excellent way to create an accurate and complete business report of any kind is to build it from worksheets. You can create worksheets for the major topics on your resume and LinkedIn profile, including education, certifications, skills, reverse-chronological experience, and accomplishments.

Education: The education worksheet will be short, despite the time, effort, and money you have invested in school and training. You should record the official title of your degree or diploma, any honors you received, and the award date for the degree.

Certifications: Industry certifications are getting increased recognition, according to a recruiter I speak with regularly. Employers are requiring industry certifications, while stating that a degree is “preferred.” So, collect this information, too. If an electronic badge is available for any of your certifications, save the image or a link to the image.

Skills and Core Competencies: The skills worksheet will be more challenging for some of us. One approach is to create a 3-column table in MS-Word or a similar program and fill in as many “hard” core competencies as you can. Hard skills or core competencies are terms such as retail math, GAAP accounting, portfolio analysis, process improvement, legal research, etc. Employers search for candidates that have done portfolio analysis, for example, but they don’t necessarily search for people that say they have “great communications skills.”

This is not meant to imply that “soft” skills, such as communications, are not important. They are essential. But everyone says they have soft skills, so just listing them won’t differentiate you from other applicants. Instead, you will have to demonstrate how you used your communications, problem solving, and other soft skills to make money or save money.

LinkedIn has changed the game for skills and core competencies sections. We have room for only 12 to 18 skills on a traditional resume, depending on format. LinkedIn gives us room for up to 100 competencies, so you will probably have room for leadership and people skills.

While you don’t need to fill all 100 skill boxes on your LinkedIn profile, include all relevant skills you can pass a test on.

Employment History: Next, prepare a reverse-chronological work history even though this seems simple. For example, it is helpful to make certain you know the recognized names of places where you worked, and when you worked at each of these places. Make certain you know both your payroll, or HR, title, as well as the “functional title” you used in your department. Often, there is a difference. Use both titles in the job title dialog boxes on LinkedIn. Put both titles on your resume, too. Employers search based on your current job title, so more keywords here will help.

Accomplishment Worksheet: The most important and detailed prep document is your accomplishment worksheet. Create three-columns to describe each business problem or opportunity you were asked to address, the specific actions you took to address that opportunity, and the results you achieved.

Some clients find the accomplishment worksheet I send them to be their biggest challenge. The accomplishment worksheet is essential because employers know or can find your job descriptions. They do not know what you contributed. An AI does not know what you contributed, either.

For example, I worked with a new law school graduate that was preparing to sit for her Bar exam and then planning to seek employment. She performed many legal research tasks at her internship, but had difficulty articulating her results. One of her assignments was to create a new HIPAA authorization form for her University’s hospital. We reviewed her internship performance evaluation with her and learned that the supervising attorney found that the form ensured the University complied with HIPAA authorization requirements. That became one of her accomplishments.

Begin preparing your documents.

Now that you have gathered your career information in one place and then summarized it on worksheets, it will be relatively easy to either prepare your resume, job search letters, and LinkedIn profile yourself, or collaborate with an expert who can prepare the documents for you.

Yes, you can ask an AI to generate a first draft for you. But the AI will not know the unique value that you brought to the job unless you provide the information. It’s your career, so do your homework!